1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to closures and more particularly to closures for use with containers for liquids, and having integral means for measuring amounts of liquids to be dispensed therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When dispensing many types of liquids from bottles, one often prefers to measure out certain amounts of the liquids and then to cap the bottle to avoid contamination, evaporation, or spillage of the contents. This is the case, for example, with liquid medicines, liquors, liquids such as cleaning fluids to be diluted according to the manufacturer's directions, and so forth.
When measuring different types of liquids, it is often desirable or even necessary to wash the measuring glass before dispensing a second liquid to avoid contaminating it with the residue from a prior liquid that may have been measured in the glass before. It may be dangerous, for example, to dispense different medicines in the same glass without washing the glass between medicines. Also, it is known that mixing certain chemicals, such as certain cleaning fluids, which may occur if a measuring glass contains residue from a previous fluid, can be dangerous. In addition, measuring out liquor for a mixed drink in a glass that had been used for other liquors can lead to undesirable flavors in the mixed drink.
Since measuring cups are not normally attached to particular bottles, one often has to look for one, which can be very time consuming. After the cup is located, it may be necessary to wash the cup prior to using it which can further delay dispensing liquid from the bottle. Also, if no measuring cup is located, it may be necessary to estimate the amount dispensed, which is also undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,419,580 to Molinari discloses one solution to these problems, a combination bottle stopper and measuring glass comprising an elongated tubular member closed off capped at one end and open at the other end. The open end is tapered to fit into the opening of a bottle. Along the sidewalls of the tubular portion are graduations denoting various fluid ounce levels. However, Molinari's stopper has several drawbacks. It is vulnerable to being broken due to its height above the bottle which makes it more easily stuck during careless handling. Furthermore, it makes the bottle more susceptible to being tipped over because of the length that it protrudes from the bottle. The Molinari stopper is inconvenient to use in measuring because the open end, which constitutes the stopper, tapers to an opening which has a smaller diameter than the mouth of the bottle which makes pouring fluids into the stopper difficult.